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MOVIE REVIEW
While not exactly a golden rule, it is known fact that if a movie does well in the box office, chances are good that it will be followed by sequel and more often than not, we’ve come to expect that the sequel won’t measure up to the original. Add a third movie to the mix and you’re just asking for trouble. With animated movies, the expectations are often even lower. (Is anyone really surprised that the Ice Age movies keep getting worse?) But sometimes, as is the case with the Disney/Pixar Toy Story movies, we’re pleasantly surprised. Now you can add How to Train Your Dragon to that short list too.

One thing that DreamWorks Animation has understood about this series is that the story comes first, the hijinks come later. The very first Dragon movie proved that way back in 2010 with a strong story and with each chapter that has come after it, that story just keeps getting better. What started out as a cute kid’s story has become a powerful trilogy. We've seen these chara…

A More Relatable ‘American Crime’

Felicity Huffman and Timothy Hutton in American Crime season two.(Photo: ABC/Bill Matlock)

TV SHOW REVIEW
I couldn’t watch past the first episode of American Crime’s first season last year. Though the plots were interesting, they were terribly depressing and I couldn’t relate to any of the scenarios. While the subject matter isn’t any happier (it IS called American Crime for crying out loud) season two appears to have a few bright spots.

Like American Horror Story and Secrets and Lies, American Crime is one of TV’s newer ideas of presenting shorter seasons with one continual storyline per season. The cast and characters are changed each season with some of the same actors returning playing different roles. This is a great formatting idea as these types of shows become more like mini-series or long movies.

In American Crime’s first season, viewers were faced with the death on a young man, the feuding of divorced parents, a young pathetic couple strung out on drugs who will do anything to get more, arguments about “illegals,” shootings, beatings and more. After watching the very first episode I found myself with no one to root for and watching people destroy their lives was not appealing to me.

Like season one, the second story of American Crime wanders from scene to scene causing you to wonder how they are all related. Even by the end of the first episode you still aren’t sure, but ABC promises that the characters are all connected in some way.
If you’ve seen the commercials, then you already know part of the plot, but pieces don’t completely come together until the last couple of minutes. The main story is about Taylor Blaine (Connor Jessup) who is an unlikely student of a privileged private school. He’s poor. School becomes worse for him when photos exposing him at a school party drunk and passed out. However, he knows that more happened than what is shown in the photos, but he isn’t completely sure what that was. At first he appears to be a jerk to his mother, Anne (Lili Taylor) until she realizes that he is holding a terrible secret and she becomes his greatest ally. (This is enough for me to watch again and see how this plays out. She’s the parent that I want to be.)
The private school is led by headmistress Leslie Graham (Felicity Huffman) who first appears to be concerned about doing the “right thing,” but it becomes pretty clear that protecting the school’s reputation maybe a smarter choice. The basketball team, who has just won another championship, is led by coach Dan Sullivan (Timothy Hutton) who can’t fathom that any of his team members could do anything wrong. Although, he and his wife (Hope Davis) are concerned about the antics of their cheerleading daughter (Sky Azure Van Vliet).
Then, there is rich kid Kevin LaCroix (Trevor Jackson) who is accused of hurting Taylor and seems to have questionable morals. His mother, Terri (Regina King) thinks that her son is too good for his current girlfriend (who appears to be having second thoughts as well) and father Michael (Andre Benjamin) who is just trying to keep the peace. Especially interesting in this season is that Taylor and his mom are white while the LaCroix family are black.
There is no debating that American Crime is done well. Like last year, it is created and executive produced by Oscar-winner John Ridley (12 Years a Slave). Huffman is always great in a “love to hate her” kind of role and Hutton’s character is a refreshing change from his sad sack persona of the first season. I look forward to the rest of the season with cautious optimism. I can only hope that this story will have a redemptive ending.

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MOVIES
It’s hard to believe that it’s been five years since everything was awesome, at least in the world of Lego as seen in the original Lego Movie. Since then Lego-themed movies have been released, none of which have been as popular, lucrative or received as much praise from critics as the original.

Now the gang is back in The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part but everything appears to be less awesome as Bricksburg has become Apocalypseburg and is getting worse when this world is threatened by Lego Duplo invaders from outer space. Still, just like is real life, Legos can always rebuild.

It takes a lot of physical and CGI Legos to create a movie. Here is a breakdown on how that looks:

2: The number of characters Chris Pratt, Stephanie Beatriz and Alison Brie play in the film. (Pratt plays Emmet and Rex Dangervest, Beatriz plays General Mayhem and Sweet Mayhem and Brie plays Unikitty and Ultrakitty)

3: The number of times Will Arnett has voiced the role of Batman in a Lego movie.

TVAmerica’s Got Talent: The Champions brought back 50 of the best acts from the different world versions of the show to compete one more time for the chance to win a really impressive (or tall) trophy, $25,000 cash and pretty incredible bragging rights. The two-hour presentation began with an hour full of filler of past acts, silly bits and interviews with the dozen remaining acts hoping to win.

Soon the 12 was whittled down to five including ventriloquist Darci Lynne Farmer, sand artist Kseniya Imonova, card magician Shin Lim, singer Cristina Ramos and comedian Preacher Lawson. And during the show’s last five minutes of the show the winner was revealed.